CLUB 60 – Movie Review: Life is meant to be LIVED and not PASSED!

It takes a great team to showcase a film that is fully equipped with great script, screenplay, amazing idea, and loaded with some extra-ordinary performances. Club 60 is among those films for sure. It’s embarrassing for Bollywood to promote senseless cinema on everyday basis and don’t breath a word about a masterpiece that was released 3 to 4 weeks ago. The other movies which released over the last 3 weeks include R.. Rajkumar, Bullet Raja and Dhoom 3. These movies do have star power, huge banners backing them and some out of the world promotional strategies with crores and crores of box office business but unfortunately they all lack in substance.

Club 60 marks the directorial debut of Sanjay Tripathy. He is flawless in his first attempt. With a cast including Farooq Shaikh, Sarika, Tinnu Anand, Raghuveer Yadav, Satish Shah, Sharat Saxena and Zarina Wahab etc. one can only imagine the kind of script this movie has. After all, the mentioned names are considered as institute in themselves.

Club 60 revolves, primarily, around a couple in their early 60’s, Dr. Tariq (Farooq Shaikh) and Dr. Saira (Sarika), who has lost their only son in a terrorist attack executed in USA. The couple decides to move to another city in an apartment. There enters Mannubhai (Raghuveer Yadav), a total fun-loving being. He is one of those individuals who always helps others and keep cracking the jokes irrespective of understanding the nature of time. He insists Dr. Tariq to join “Club 60” a club for senior citizens. In Club 60, Mannu Bhai introduces Dr. Tariq with his gang of friends Sinha (Vineet Kumar), Jaffar Bhai (Tinnu Anand), Dhillon (Sharat Saxena) and Mansukhani ( Satish Shah). The movie is all about the ups and downs that one faces in life right from childhood to old age and understanding the fact that life is meant to be lived than passed.

The narration of the movie is first-rate. The length of the movie could have been shortened to 15 minutes (to the most), including the Sharat Saxena’s pub scene and a song or two. Apart from that this is a perfect movie for those who love genuine cinema with power packed drama, some nice situational comic scenes and above all this movie gives an in-depth depiction of every person’s life in more than many ways. Whether you are in your 20’s or 60’s, this movie will make you glued to your seat with its experience.

As far as performances are concerned, Farooq Sheikh is flawless. After “Listen Amaya”, this is an apt selection of the movie. He portrays multiple emotions with complete ease. Raghuveer Yadav is top-notch. He delivers a marvelous performance and touches ones heart naturally. It was a difficult role but Sarika remarkably slid into it. Her outburst in the post interval and the entire argument is worth a watch. Sharat Saxena and Satish Shah are both lovable. They are the most promising actors right from the days of Kala Pathar and Jaanay Bhi Do Yaro. I seriously hope Tinnu Anand should get back to signing more movies; he impresses a lot in dramatic scenes. Vineet Kumar is good. Warina Wahab, for a scene and a song is nice.

Club 60 is highly recommended for cine-goers who appreciate high quality and high content cinema. I would rate it 4.5 / 5. It’s a must watch!

Teri meri kahani – It’s Everyone's Story – Movie Review

To me it was really strange to not to hear any buzz about Kunal Kohli’s, Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra starrer, new release “Teri Meri Kahani”. How can anyone forget “Hum Tum”? The same director created a magic! Anyways, after almost a week of the movie’s release I got a chance to watch “Teri Meri Kahani”. I, actually, watched the movie out of curiosity of why it was/is not much talked about!

The movie is about two characters, Shahid Kapoor as (Javed, Fovind and Krish) and Priyanka chopra as (Aradhna, Rukhsaar and Radha) who meet in 3 different eras 1910, 1960 and 2012. This movie is all about eternal love which at times we call the “connection”. I will not spoil the fun by disclosing the complete synopsis of the movie in short it is for those who have ever fallen in love. From the start to the end the movie looks interesting, lovely and sweet.

Shahid Kapoor excels in all three roles which he has performed in this movie. I will like to mention one thing that in all the 3 roles he portrayed the character of a 3 different guys in same age brackets yet all the characters are so diversified, ditto for Priyanka Chopra. Undoubtedly both actors are the finest performers of this age.

All the songs of this movie are amazing. Those songs which stand out are “Allah Janay”, “Hum se Pyar Karlay tu” and “Jab se mere dilko”. For love stories music plays the role of a spinal cord and this movie is blessed with one strong backbone.

Kunal Kohli has delivered his honest attempt and throughout the movie am sure audiences will have smiles on their faces. All the eras are perfectly shot.

The era of 1910’s is the highlight of the movie, script, performance and emotions wise. The era of 1960’s will surprise most of the critical audiences with the detailing. The way trams were shown, their speed, colors, attires, fashion and even the way people used to communicate. The depiction of 2012 is really close to day to day life.

This movie is highly recommended for those who have ever loved someone with all their hearts. I will also highly recommend this flick for those who enjoy and want to see a well made movie.

If you are married watch it! It will rejoice old times. If you are in a relation, watch it, it will strengthen your relation and if you are finding true love! It will help you in understanding one!

7/10

VICKY DONOR – The sperm that produces a “Laugh”

Tribune

With the passage of time audience have seen that the cinema has changed. I would call it a 360 degree change. There were times when action flicks used to be the talk of the town. There used to be an angry young man beating up the goons either for the sake of vengeance or for proving his macho character. Then there were times when love stories were liked by budding lovers and college sweet-hearts, those movies used to have some great music compositions which were instantly liked and loved by the listeners (of that time). Now weird (for some people) and interesting (for other viewers) movies are made. At some circles slapstick comedies are encouraged and on the other hand people are also appreciating thought provoking cinema. This particular movie, “Vicky Donor” is a combination of both.

The movie might not get success, on the basis of its topic, screenplay and concept, if it would have been released in 90’s or even in 2000’s. Audience is much more ready to accept things nowadays. The movie is tale of a Punjabi boy named Vicky Arora (Ayushman) whose great grandfather had 19 children. This story also revolves around a (not so successful) middle aged Doctor Baldev Chadda (Annu Kapoor) who specializes in infertility operations and he runs a fertility clinic and looking for a sperm donor. Last but not the least, this movie also revolves around the love of a Punjabi guy with a Bengali girl Ashima Roy (Yaami Gautam) and their trust and understanding.

The theme of the movie is really interesting yet controversial, for some. Dr. Chadda convinces Vicky to donate his sperm so that he can give happiness to those parents who are not blessed with their biological kids. For this he quotes some factual yet hilarious examples to Vicky, regarding Mahabhaarat’s time. Finally Dr. Chadda convinces Vicky and he starts to donate sperms. The sequence between Annu Kapoor (as Dr. Chadda) and Ayushmaan (as Vicky) are amazingly hilarious and here definitely Annu Kapoor being a veteran actor takes the audience to the heights of laughter. It is not easy to share the screen with Annu Kapoor but Ayushmaan makes his presence noticed strongly. They both complement each other in almost every scene be it be dramatic or funny. Those who know the roles portrayed by Annu Kapoor in his career will never doubt that he has a caliber that is not shared by many actors. Be it his “Gali Gali Chor hai” or “7 Khoon Maaf” both roles portrays huge contrast. For those who really want to see his amazing performance must watch “Ek Ruka hua faisla” (21 years old young Annu Kapoor portraying a 59 years old lawyer).

On the other hand (the debutant) Ayushman is also full of surprises. He performs extremely nice as a funky, easy going and smartass boy at one place, whereas he astonishes audience in climax (I don’t want to spoil the experience – watch it yourself). Be it a serious thing or comical the young talent has the potential to get noticed. Yaami Gautam is a well known name of Indian TV Channels but she debuts in this movie and guys will love her charms and sweetness. She does not portray an “Oh So Sexy” role but even then am sure guys will smile after watching her and noticing her simplicity. She can go a long way provided she chooses right roles.

There are other characters that shine in this movie, including, Vicky’s mom (Dolly Ahluwalia) and grand mom (Kamlesh Gill). Jayanta Das, portraying the father of Yaami Gautam, excels brilliantly.

On the whole, John Abraham has managed to produce a great piece of funny and witty cinema. The movie shares a nice plot line, if we can save a dying man by donating our blood, why can’t we grant our sperms to grant a whole life to someone who does not even exists in the world. The good things about this movie are that it has freshness, good humor, some great performances and a nice handling. Only drawback – it lacks star power (which these days is a must for many movie goers).

Music is average, dialogues are hilarious and direction is promising.

Rating 7/10